This invention relates to a safety device for firearms with a firing pin lock to prevent the unintended unlocking of the firearm wherein the safety device comprises a rotatable safety shaft connected to the firing pin lock with locking surfaces. The safety shaft is adjustable in at least two positions for locking of at least the firing pin.
Hunting rifles and other firearms are commonly equipped with safety devices, which prevent unintended unlocking of the firearm. These safety devices secure the trigger so that it cannot be actuated. A safety device where the trigger is secured, is described in DE 78 449. Other safety devices function by securing the firing pins.
Safety devices where both the trigger as well as the firing pin or bolt are secured are also knownxe2x80x94the art. An example of such a safety device is described in EP 0 143 625 B1. A safety shaft, which is affixed at the firing pin lock, can be set to three positions. The adjustment is usually done with the thumb via a safety wing connected to the safety shaft. The safety shaft has three depressions for the positions, into which a holding pin is pushed by force of a spring. While the weapon is secured, the safety wing points towards the back and is approximately parallel to the weapons barrel. The safety shaft is then partly engaged in a slot in the firing pin lock and thereby arrests the firing pin. At the same time the lower part of the safety shaft rests on the trigger thereby arresting it as well. Finally a pin, which runs parallel to the firing pin lock and which is under the pressure of a spring, is pushed forward into a bore, thereby preventing the lock from turning. The lever for the lock is arrested as well. Through a forward movement of the safety wing by 70xc2x0, the pin is released and pulled out of the bore by force of the spring. The lock can then be turned and the weapon loaded or unloaded. A shot however cannot be fired, since the lower part of the safety shaft has not unlocked the trigger. Only when the safety wing is pushed forward into the next position, thereby unlocking the trigger, will the safety be released and the weapon free to fire. Several safety devices following this basic principle are commercially available and are generally reliable.
These safety devices, however, suffer from the disadvantage that the safety wing can be unintentionally pushed forward from the secure position, especially while climbing an elevated blind, and when the weapon is jarred or bumped during normal use when hunting. Since for the release of the safety using such a safety device requires only that the safety wing pass an angle of rotation less than 180xc2x0, the inadvertent release of the safety during normal use of the weapon cannot be excluded.
The present invention solves this problem by providing a device that prevents the safety wing from being unintentionally moved from the secure position.
The present invention provides a device wherein the safety shaft is arrested in a position in that secures the weapon. The safety shaft, while securing the weapon, is fixed in such a way that any force applied to the safety wing cannot result in a movement of either the safety wing or the safety shaft.
In a preferred embodiment, the safety shaft can be fixed at a firing pin lock by a flattening in the middle part of the safety shaft which can be set into the bore for the firing pin or abuts a nut at the rear of the firing pin, and therefore results in a locking of the firing pin. Such a lock can preferably have a lock bar perpendicular to the safety shaft, which when the weapon is secured can be pushed with the end that is directed towards the safety shaft into the existing space of the flat portion of the safety shaft and with its front side edge resting on the flat portion and locks the safety shaft.
The lock bar pivots around a retaining pin which is located approximately in the middle of the lock bar. It swivels into the securing position by force of a spring. It is pushed with its front side end in the direction of the safety shaft or the flattening of the safety shaft. The lock bar may be swiveled out of the secure position, thereby releasing the weapon, by applying finger pressure on the reverse side of the lock bar, while simultaneously turning the safety shaft through the safety wing.
A coil spring is preferably used and inserted into a dead end bore on the reverse side of the lock bar. To assist the moveability of the lock bar while swiveling, the lock bar is wedge shaped at least at the side opposite the safety shaft.
A completely immobile alignment of the lock bar in its longitudinal direction is accomplished by inserting the lock bar into a slotxe2x80x94shaped like the lock barxe2x80x94wherein the slot is located alongside the firing pin lock. This slot confines the lock bar so that even shearing the hinge pin on the wing will not bring the wing out of the secure or securing-position. The slot is mounted from an axial view of the weapon in front of the safety shaft and partly uncovers the bore for the safety shaft. Therefore, the safety shaft, and especially the herein existing flattening for the lock bar, is accessible. The mounting of the lock bar in this configuration is very advantageous, if the lock bar is affixed perpendicular to or at the firing pin lock. In this configuration, the safety wing and lock bar are then ergonomically situated towards each other. The lock bar is swiveled out with pressure of the index finger or the middle finger while at the same time the safety wing is pushed forward with the thumb. To release the weapon it is necessary to unlock the firing pin lock by pressure from the side and then by pressure from behind in the direction of firing. The simultaneous application of pressure in two different directions greatly reduces or eliminates the possibility of an unintentional discharge of the weapon. Finally, the matching fitting of the lock bar prevents a shearing of the retaining pinxe2x80x94even under extreme forcesxe2x80x94at the safety wing.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.